Another Day at Ever After High
by Misty7books
Summary: It's the year that the students of EAH must sign their page in the Storybook of Legends. So how will the students react when new girl Cerise Hood joins the school, and more importantly, how will a certain Charming react?... Darise! Sorry to those who don't ship this, but I think that it's perfect. Also, Cerise isn't half-wolf in here, she's half-werewolf. Updates are on my profile!
1. New Girl

_**Chapter 1:**_ __ _ **(1360 words)**_

It was just another morning for most of the students at Ever After High.

However, to those others? It was the try-outs for the bookball team for the year and a lot of boys were hyped for it to begin. Somewhere in the woods outside of the castle, though, there was a young girl of seventeen years.

She too was a student there at Ever After High, it was a Thursday, and the end of her first week at the school was almost coming to an end.

She looked exactly like a human at first glance, but unlike the other students, she was a hybrid, a half-werewolf. Well, actually… her sister was a student there and she was a half-werewolf too. Wait, that doesn't count though, she was her sister.

Her long straight hair was swaying lightly in the light wind, though the large crimson hood over her head constricted its movements somewhat. There were streaks of white on the left side of her mostly dark brown hair and fringe.

Her name was Cerise Hood, the daughter of the Little Red Riding Hood. Unfortunately, she was also the daughter of the Big Bad Wolf, making her the half-werewolf that she is. Most people didn't know this, they just saw her as the daughter of her mother, and that would be her destiny.

Her sisters Ramona and Luna had the surname of 'Badwolf', and people only saw them as the daughters of their father.

Ramona was two years older than her, and starting her last year at EAH. She didn't want to sign her destiny, as that would mean trying to kill her grandmother and her sister, so she was just absent at the end of the year when she was supposed to sign the Storybook of Legends.

She told Headmaster Grimm that she would sign it at the end of her last year.

Luna, on the other hand, was a lot younger than Cerise and Ramona at twelve years old. She was very shy, as she didn't have any friends, since everyone was scared of her and her dad. She didn't mind though because, like Cerise, she loved to be alone, running around the woods and seeing her dad's side of the family, all of the cousins.

Luckily for them, they didn't have to hide their wolf ears and their 'violent' nature, though people did wonder why they had mostly human bodies, but they were too afraid to question it.

Cerise didn't have that freedom, she had to hide hers.

It was horrible.

Having to hide a secret as large as that was stressful, because if people found out, not only would she and her sisters be locked up, so would her parents, and that would be terrible.

Her siblings still had to hide who their mother was, but they were free nonetheless.

Looking at her mirrorphone, she saw that try-outs were almost beginning. She was going to try out for them, excited wasn't enough to describe what she felt.

No girl had ever tried to join the team, though there was a girl apparently called Darling Charming, daughter of King and Queen Charming, who pretended to be a boy to join the fencing team.

What a coincidence, her brother, Daring Charming is the captain of the bookball team.

She had heard of him already.

Raven and Cedar, her friend and her roommate, told her all about the tension in between the Royals and the Rebels, and about the Charmings.

Daring Charming was a stuck-up-idiot according to Raven.

"He only cares about his reflection in the mirror in his hands and how rich and good-looking he is," she told the half-werewolf earlier in the week. "All of the girls in the school gasp and faint like idiots whenever he walked by, except for me, Cedar and some of the others. He doesn't care about those though, he's a Royal through and through."

' _He already sounded like jerk,'_ decided Cerise. If someone could be that narcissistic, it would be him, according to her friends. Raven was one of the only few that new of her… heritage. The others included her sister and Hunter Huntsman, a childhood friend.

Cedar also spoke of similar things later that day, telling the unexperienced girl that it was best to not get involved in his shenanigans.

It was pointless, though, because when Cerise saw the captain of the bookball team's name on the try-out sheet of information, she just wanted to join ever more, in spite of him.

She could tell that he was a sexist imbecile, what with how much he probably foamed at the mouth when someone said _'traditions'_.

Making up her mind, she ran from the forest all the way to the bookball stadium, her wolf side giving her super-speed.

She gets to the changing rooms and puts on a mask, lessons only start next week and she spends most of her time out in the forests, so no one had really seen her before, so everyone will just assume that she's a boy.

She'll keep the hood on, but she put on the uniform that she saw others wearing out on the field, warming up for try-outs.

She didn't have to, since she always stretches before going running, and she had sprinted all the way there.

Right in the middle of the group of boys, she saw Hunter.

Since they are from the same story, and they live near the same area, Hunter already knew who she was, and that she was a girl.

He turned when he saw someone coming towards them. Then he saw the signature hood and chuckled quietly to himself before walking over to his disguised friend.

Since they were best friends since they were young, he already knew of her secret, with her parents approving.

"Hey, Hood," he greeted, not calling her by her first name since it was usually used for girls. Also, she was wearing a hood so it made it sound like they don't know each other.

"Hi, Hunter," she whispered so that only they heard.

He chuckled again, "Look, I know that you're fast and… all that, but I didn't think that you would try to join a boys-only team!"

"Yeah, well, I'm just full of surprises, aren't I?" she shot back.

"True, true. Well don't worry, I won't tell," he assured her.

She gave him one of her rare friendly smiles, "Thanks, Hunter."

"No problem, Hood," he then parted with her so that all of the boys (and girl) were in a line, though Cerise and Hunter still stood next to each other.

They saw the famous captain leave the changing rooms and stroll suavely over to where to others were standing. With him came the coach, the professor who taught gym.

"All right, men. Ready for try-outs?" he asked.

"We are!" chimed the rest of the students. Cerise stayed silent, her _'boy voice'_ was horrible.

Daring, obviously pleased with the noisy response, began try-outs.

He separated all of the students there into groups depending what position they wanted. Cerise definitely wanted to be a running-back, what with her blazing speed. She was sure that she would get the position, she was a half-werewolf after all, no one can beat her when it comes to running.

When Daring reached those who wanted to be running-backs, he counted how many there were, four students were playing for that position, including Cerise.

Daring made them run around the pitch to see who was fastest, which was obviously Cerise by a long shot.

The expression on the Charming's face was priceless.

' _Even if I don't make it on the team, that face made it all worth it,'_ she laughed to herself, very amused by the situation.

Then Daring made all players play a game, they would have to play more than one since so many students tried out.

After the games, several hours later in the day, Daring stood by the bleachers, discussing who would get into the team with the coach, as the group of boys (and girl) waited near the edge of the field, wondering who would be those lucky students.


	2. Daring's POV

_**Chapter 2:**_ __ _ **(1665 words)**_

To say that Daring was astonished would be the understatement of the century.

It was finally the day of the bookball team try-outs, and Daring was looking forward to show the male population of the school that he was and always will be the best at bookball.

It was just another reason for girls, and some boys too, to be crushing on Daring Charming.

He was the eldest child of King and Queen Charming, and was their favourite too, since he actually wanted to follow his destiny, and, why wouldn't he? As the future 'Prince Charming', most people fawned over him, fainting left, right and centre the second he entered a room. He slayed whatever monster he had to slay, saved his princess and lived happily ever after. What more could he want?

His brother and sister, Dexter and Darling Charming, were younger then him by ten months, and were twins, though they were pretty much opposites:

Dexter wasn't charming at all, and was scared of many things, whereas Darling was fearless and most boys wanted to marry her one day, because of her charm and since she was a Charming.

On his way to the changing rooms, he walked past Apple White, daughter of Snow White, who caught his attention by waving her hand and motioning for him to come over.

Most people always think that he and Apple were a thing, an item, though Daring never really felt that way for her. His mother wished for him to marry her, it was his destiny, after all. He definitely wanted that for his life, so for now, he ignored those feelings telling him how awkward and weird it is to date one of your closest friends who you have no romantical feelings for, and chose his destiny first.

She was standing with the O'Hair twins, daughters of Rapunzel, Briar Beauty, daughter of Sleeping Beauty, and Ashlynn Ella, daughter of Cinderella, some of her closest friends.

However, she pulled him aside to speak with him, privately.

"Yes, Apple?" he questioned.

"Daring, I just wanted to wish you good luck on the bookball try-outs today!"

"Oh, thank you, Apple. Of course, I won't need it. Still, thanks."

She smiled sweetly at him, and he just let it happen, "Your welcome, see you later."

She hugged him, with Daring letting it happen once again, and then she left to go join her friends while Daring goes to the changing rooms to get changed.

Once he's ready and walks outside to the bookball stadium, he saw the group of boys wanting to join warming up.

One of them was wearing a bright red hood and a mask, like everyone else, and looked too skinny and tall to be tackling, so he wondered what position that he would want to play.

' _He is going to get obliterated by the others,'_ Daring thought with mischief, _'There's no way that he can run that far, or even catch the book.'_

It turns out that the mysterious boy wanted to play as running-back, which made perfect sense since-

"Wow, that 'boy' can sure run, huh?" smirked Hunter, who was standing next to Daring as the running-backs ran ten laps around the stadium.

Cerise obviously pulled ahead of everyone and finished the ten laps while beating the record of fastest time, pushing him aside to second place.

He couldn't believe it; how could this strange boy beat him at something so simple?

"Uhh, yeah," he was at a loss for words.

Hunter was grinning slyly at this, leading Daring to believe that he knew something that he himself didn't.

He decided to make the boys play a game of bookball to see how they are in the spotlight. _'Let's see who's better now,'_ he thought excitedly.

It was the end of try-outs, and Daring was once again amazed by the sheer skill this boy in the hood had at the game.

He stood near the bleachers, writing the names who would join the team on a sheet of paper, and deciding with Coach who would be a good addition.

Right underneath Hunter's name, he wrote:

 _\- Boy in Hood – Running-back_

Hunter checked the list afterwards, seeing all of the positions, and chuckling lightly at the name the stuck-up prince gave for his close friend.

Daring called up all of those who were in the team, just pointing at the one in the hood, and calling the others by name.

"Hey, you," he pointed to the shy boy at the back.

All they did was walk strongly up to the prince, and nod.

"You made it onto the team as running-back, congratulations," he informed.

The boy was wearing a mask, like all others, and at this moment, he took it off to show his face… or should he say _'she'_.

Standing smugly in front of him, stood the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.

The point that bugged him the most was that she was a girl! They shouldn't play sports like bookball.

All Daring could do was drop his jaw at the surprise. Like all of the others did, some blabbering on about how strange it was and others even fell over at the surprise.

However, unlike all others, Hunter giggled with a ferocity, almost joining some others on the floor until he stopped and smirked at the girl in a friendly manner. This didn't go unnoticed by Daring.

"You knew about this, didn't you?" asked Daring at his friend.

Hunter grinned and informed, "Yes I did, she's my best friend other than Ashlynn, and I support her fully with her decision, Daring."

He couldn't believe his ears, his friend knew? But it was a girl!

"Hunter, sh-she's a… a girl!" he exclaimed.

"I know, and she beat all you others, didn't she?" Hunter raised an eyebrow at them.

Sparrow Hood, son of Robin Hood, got up from the floor and told Daring, "It's true, y'know. I mean, she's way better than me, and I'm the back-up running-back!"

The mysteriously beautiful student looked at Sparrow and smiled.

A smile that made Daring's stomach do flips. _'Why was that happening?'_ He's have to go and see Baba Yaga if it gets worse.

"Thanks, Sparrow," God, even her voice sounded angelic.

She turned her head to look back at the now silent prince, her hair shimmered in the sun, making it look like she was glowing.

"Daring Charming," she confidently began, "I'm Cerise Hood, daughter of Little Red Riding Hood, I would say that it was nice to meet you, but I would be lying." Then she turned and strolled merrily to the entrance.

Hunter couldn't hold in his laughter.

Daring recovered from the shock of having a girl react like that to him, and grumbled with embarrassment. Then he remembered that he was Daring Charming, he was supposed to make women's hearts flutter, not the other way around.

He ran from the group and stopped the hooded girl.

"Wait, what do you mean?" he pleaded.

She turned slowly to look at him, her eyes a cold grey, as if a rebellious storm was contained in each one of them, bringing them, and her, to life.

"If you can't figure it out for yourself, then you don't deserve to know," she quoted, and turned around to enter the school.

Daring walked back to the group of boys, though most had left. Only Sparrow and Hunter stayed behind for him.

"What happened?" questioned Sparrow.

"I asked her about what she meant and she told me that if I couldn't figure it out for myself, then I didn't deserve to know," he looked thoughtful. Hunter huffed a laugh and informed him, "Well, you were being very unfair, Daring."

"Whatever do you mean?" he confusedly asked.

Hunter looked at him with a look on his face that screamed _'seriously?'_ He didn't understand. Hunter then added, "Cerise isn't wrong, y'know. What she said was true."

He sighed, shaking his head at her actions. And then he remembered how he felt at those actions. He quickly blushed, looking back at the castle to hide it.

' _He can't 'like' her! He was betrothed to Apple! He can't like someone else, not now!',_ his mind was rushing out words as if he was running out of time.

"How do you know her," he asked Hunter, becoming curious.

"Well, she's supposed to be Little Red Riding Hood, and I'm the Huntsman, so since we lived in the same area because of our parents, and because of our destinies, we became friends from a very young age," recounted Hunter.

"Yeah," began Sparrow, "I think she's a distant cousin."

"She's really not," Hunter shook his head with amusement.

Sparrow sighed dejectedly and walked off, but not before saying goodbye to both of them, which left Hunter and Daring.

"You're still playing her, right?" Hunter suddenly asked, a concerned expression on his face.

' _Wow, they really must be close friends for him to be that worried, he hardly ever acts like that,'_ concluded Daring.

He mulled it over for a while before deciding that he didn't want to make Hunter angry, so he slowly nodded his head. Hunter sighed with relief as he walked away to the school, probably to talk to the unusual girl.

Daring just sighed and waved goodbye as he trekked back to the school thinking over the events of the day, and mostly about the mysteriously hooded girl, apparently Cerise Hood.

He couldn't like her, not when she was a commoner, and definitely not when she broke the unspoken rules of EAH. She must be new.

He ultimately decided that he would keep a look out for the talented girl, she was one of the few girls at the school that don't 'like' him.

She stood out from the rest, she was special somehow, he just didn't know why.

Daring, confused at what she and Hunter were talking about, walked to his brother, Dexter's dorm room to talk.


	3. Friendly Love

_**Chapter 3:**_ __ _ **(1048 words)**_

Cerise chuckled silently as she strolled to her room, which she shared with Cedar, the daughter of Pinocchio.

One of her favourite things to do was mess with people, and that's why she enjoyed so much to speak to idiots such as that Daring Charming fool.

When she entered the room, she saw Raven and Cedar on the foot of Cedar's bed. What they were talking about, she didn't know.

"Hey guys, what's up?" she hummed.

Raven and Cedar's heads snapped sideways to see who was making the noise and Cedar stood up rapidly to greet her. She was always such a nice girl, trying to make everyone feel welcomed and she was so kind.

"Cerise! Hi! How did try-outs go?" questioned Cedar rapidly.

Raven looked up at Cerise suddenly.

"Try-outs?" she asked.

"Yeah, bookball try-outs were this morning, Cerise tried to get in and I want to know if she did," Cedar rushed out, wanting to hear what Cerise says.

Raven looked very thoughtful for a couple of seconds, wondering what could have possibly happened to make Cerise seem so pleased with herself, wrapping her mind around possible scenarios until-

She grinned slyly, "And they didn't know that you were a girl, did they?"

Cerise shrugged sheepishly, "Nope, Daring UnCharming walked up to me, announced that I was in and I took off the mask I was wearing."

Raven and Cedar burst into laughter at the nickname that Cerise had given to the spoiled prince, and then they wore proud smiles, happy for their friend and happy that she was going for what she believed in.

"And the best part," the hooded girl continued, "was definitely when everyone had a jaw-dropped expression, especially UnCharming, while Hunter was just giggling like an idiot!"

That set them off again.

The three laughed like crazy, relishing in the absurdity of the previous events. They laughed so hard that Cedar had to fall back onto her bed to support herself and Raven slid onto the floor while patting Cerise's back in praise, as the girl had already fell onto the floor at the severity of the giggles leaving their bodies.

That is until they heard a knocking on the door.

"Cerise! Are you in there?" Hunter's muffled voice shouted, the door blocking the sound.

The girl in question stood up from her place on the floor and stumbled over to the door, the occasional chuckle still escaping from her lips. She reached the door and pulled it open to see her close friend standing there. She gave him a quick smile and greeted, "Yeah, hi. I'm just telling Raven and Cedar what happened."

Hunter gave her a grin as she widened the door to let Hunter through, "I know that boys aren't really allowed in the girl's dorms but it's not like we're going to do anything, so come on in," she assured.

The second Raven saw him, she asked, "Hey, Hunter! Is it true that Daring let her play?"

"Yeah, I stayed after the try-outs to ask him that very question, he said yes, after me and Sparrow convinced him to do so. You're in the team, Hood," he smiled affectionately at Cerise.

She grinned happily as her friends continued their playful banter, wondering what a certain stuck-up prince was doing at the moment. _'Probably flirting with the entire school's population of girls,'_ reminded the quite intelligent part of her brain.

She shook her head at her thoughts, and turned to look at the people she cares about to join in on the fun.

On the other side of the castle, two brothers were speaking in hushed whispers of the events earlier in the day.

"Dexter, I can't believe it! A girl, on the bookball team… it-it's absurd!" Daring practically screamed at his brother, well, as much as you can scream in whispers.

Dexter Charming, the slightly younger brother of Daring Charming, sighed in frustration. He had been there at the try-outs himself, he just managed to get a position. Of course, he didn't want to have one in the first place. Their mother made him do so because, as of now, he wasn't very princely, and would have to man-up before his destiny occurred.

He didn't care about that though. If he could, he would be a rebel, publicly proclaiming how people should write their own destinies. Heck, he even had a crush on the founder of the modern rebel revolution, Raven Queen.

He turned to look at his brother, wondering how to respond to such a statement.

"Daring, maybe this will be good for the team?" he questioned, warily, knowing how short of a temper his brother could get.

"How could you say that! She's a girl! Nothing of good can come of this!" he had a disgusted look on his face.

"Then why is she on the team in the first place?" Dexter suddenly found the courage to ask.

Daring was silent, glaring at his brother for mentioning such thing.

"Listen, Daring. If she was a boy, you would have no problem with this. I say give it a shot, okay?" he tried to make Daring promise, but to no avail.

"I-I, but she's a girl! I know that there is no rule for such thing but it is breaking century old tradition, Dexter! How can you be so calm about this?"

"Maybe some traditions are meant to be broken," his brother simply stated, standing up and walking out of the room, back to his own dorm.

' _For a shy kid, he sure knows he to leave an impression,'_ Daring thought amusingly. _'Maybe I have been a bit… prejudiced, but it is all in the name of tradition, right?'_

He thought of what to do, and decided that he had no choice but to keep the mysteriously hooded girl in the team.

Then suddenly a thought hit him. He smiled fondly as he thought of his sister's reaction to another girl standing up against boys. He shook his head at the strange actions of his sister and the girl. They would probably get along.

He stood up and changed into his pyjamas, made from the finest of silk of course, and stood by the window, looking up into the sky.

' _All in the name of tradition…'_

 **A/N: C'mon… you all definitely saw this coming! I want to start doing author note thingys in all of my series and any future one-shots if I'm ever bothered to write one. It's really hard to do for me though because I write way too much sometimes and I don't really have any ideas.**

 **The fountain of inspiration has run dry, now unable to support the creativity that depends on its luxurious life.**

… **I don't know where I was going with that one. I was trying to do a metaphor but I'm absolutely awful at them, I'll just stick with similes, thank you very much.**

 **Well, that's all now, see you next week! (Unless you read any of my other stories, since, in that case, see you on Friday or Monday!)**

 **Enjoy!**


	4. Changes

_**Chapter 4:**_ __ _ **(2531 words)**_

A couple of weeks later, and Daring Charming and Cerise Hood have spoken almost nothing to each other, whether it be at practice or in their shared lessons.

Luckily, they only had one together, Chemythstry, and they sat on opposite sides of the classroom, Daring used his Charming charm on the teacher, Professor Rumpelstiltskin, to secure that happening. Of course, it didn't work, but Headmaster Grimm agreed to allow it.

They never told anyone why, as no one but the boys that were at try-outs and Cerise's friends knew of their small rivalry.

They have had four bookball practices so far, and many were surprised at hearing of the girl that supposedly disguised herself as a boy to join the team.

Darling Charming wanted to meet her. _'Of course she does,'_ sighed Daring. _'They're better twins then she and Dexter could ever be.'_

In those four practices, Daring had placed Sparrow as running-back instead of the hooded figure, and Daring and the Coach had made the team try plays and small scenarios, and he hadn't once picked the… girl, as a member of these activities.

She just stayed on the bench, patiently waiting for him to change his mind about girls not being allowed to play bookball. It wasn't really all that patient, really.

Ever since try-outs, she had worn her actual clothes, and didn't wear a mask anymore, showing everyone that she was a girl. She still wore her hood though, for whatever reason. _'It's not like she's going to tell me anything about it.'_ He shook his head, _'It's not like I care that she won't tell me anything about it either. We don't really see eye to eye, and we never will.'_

He knew that she was attractive, and that's all. No feelings what-so-ever. She was a disgrace to Ever After, being all fiery and breaking tradition, those are no traits the daughter of Little Red Riding Hood should have.

He knew that he was only going to anger her more, and unlike every other female in the school, he didn't know what to expect from an annoyed Cerise Hood. She was unpredictable, and different from all of the other girls in Ever After High. Hell, he even knew what to expect from Raven Queen!

Daring kept leaving her out though, a sort of revenge for breaking tradition. Prince Charmings don't really plot out revenge, but this girl kept putting him in situations that he had no experience with.

She kept him on his toes, and, to be honest, he was quite thankful for that. His results in lessons were improving since he was trying a lot harder now that he was trying to show the hooded girl that he was superior.

It was quite a fun little game they had going on between the two of them, with not many people knowing about it.

The students of EAH didn't even know that they knew each other, they just knew that Daring was the captain of the bookball team and that Cerise Hood was the fastest student that they've ever had.

Her friends seemed to have angered quicker than her as he had already been confronted by a very angry Hunter.

It was six days prior to that point, on a Wednesday, almost a week after the try-outs. They were having practice three times a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Wednesday's practice had just ended and Daring was walking up to stair case to his dorm to shower when Hunter had stopped him.

"Hey, Daring!" he called from the bottom of the stairs.

"Yes?" he politely asked.

"Why haven't you been playing Cerise?" his voice sounding enraged.

"She is a girl, I have simply decided that she can watch and learn."

Hunter looked absolutely furious at the statement, "And what would your sister say to that, huh? Don't you love her? She joined the fencing team by doing exactly what Cerise did, and she is fully included, and the boys do that because she's good at it, not because she's a girl!"

Daring stared in shock at the boy that is usually taller than him from the top of the rich staircase.

"I… of course I love my sister, she's brilliant."

"Then you are you punishing Cerise when she's doing exactly what she did?"

Daring stayed silent at that.

"I thought so, please play her next time," Hunter simply asked and walked away to the girl's side of the castle. It wasn't actually split in half for girls and boys, but the dorm rooms were on opposite sides of the castle.

He didn't listen.

It was Tuesday, so early that it was still night. It was almost two weeks since the try-outs. They had two more practices since Hunter confronted him that Wednesday, on the Friday and the Monday, and he didn't play Cerise the entire time.

They were going to have another practice session tomorrow, and Daring wondered when the mysterious girl was finally going to snap.

He didn't have to wait long.

He was walking down the corridor, heading out the pitch to do some laps, he had to keep fit for the ladies after all.

It was very early in the day, moonlight was still shining through the occasional window, and there were no students in the halls yet, they were probably all still asleep. So, he didn't expect to see anyone up yet. However, he heard footsteps behind him.

He stopped in front of a window and turned around to see a fuming Cerise Hood behind him, an expression of betrayal and enragement on her gorgeous fa- _'Can't be having those thoughts now, Charming!'_

"Yes?" he politely asked, looking slightly annoyed.

She was quite tall for her age but he was still taller than her, but not by much. This annoyed him, as he couldn't look down on her as he ripped her argument to shreds.

"I have a problem with you, UnCharming," she stated, her voice strangely level, it sounded like she was trying very hard not to make a scene, even though there was no one here to watch.

His eyes widened at the nickname, if anyone else said this, he would have laughed along, but since it was her, he ignored it. He didn't know what else to do.

"I have no idea what you mean," he lied, flashing her one of his smiles that girls usually faint for. ' _Of course, this is the mysteriously hooded girl you're dealing with,'_ he reminded himself.

She surprisingly didn't even realise that he had done so, her nostrils were flaring and she was showing her teeth, almost growling at him.

She looked rather like a wolf, he mused, laughing in his head at the irony of the future Little Red Riding Hood looking like the animal that would try to threaten her life later on.

"Oh, I think you do, UnCharming," she growled.

He took a step back. Unusual. He never backed down from a challenge.

"Please do tell," he smirked.

"You," she pointed her finger at him, her nails sharp and pointed, "haven't been playing me. At all!"

"You will just have to wait your turn, I'm afraid."

Her eyes glowed gold for a millisecond as the fading moonlight hit them. He had never seen nor heard of anything like that happening before. He shook his head, it must have just been his imagination.

"No, UnCharming, I will not as I already have done so, for a fortnight no less!"

"And?" he teased. She looked furious.

"And? And!? You, Prince Charming, are a sexist jerk! And I will not just do what you say just because you think that you are superior!" she yelled, her eyes looking more golden by the second.

He paused. _'Am I really sexist? Or a jerk? Does she actually believe that?"_ He looked slightly crushed at that, until he quietly asked, "Do you really believe that?"

He looked at her, as surprise shown on her face and her eyes faded into that misty grey that he had shamefully dreamt about once or twice since the try-outs two weeks ago. It must have been a trick of the light, how could eyes shine golden like that?

"I do… but I think that you can stop being one if you try hard enough," she said after a few minutes, clearly putting thought in her answer.

Now it was his turn to be surprised. He was expecting her to be the angriest of them all, and she certainly lived up to it, but she also cared about him, it seemed. She didn't want him to feel sad, and she comforted him.

Strange.

She clearly noticed his shock too, as she cleared her throat and pulled on her hood, hiding her face even more, "So, what are you doing up so early anyway?"

He stood still, unsure if he heard correctly, "Excuse me?"

She shook her head and huffed a laugh. "Go on then, tell me," she encouraged.

He smiled slightly, amused at her sudden change of mood.

"Well, I was going to run a few laps, I need to keep fit for the ladies, you know." It didn't sound as suave as it did earlier, in his head. He would much rather Cerise be amazed by him, as it seemed so impossible to do. He always loved a good challenge.

"And you?" he added, a curious look in his eyes.

She smiled cheekily, "Why do you want to know, hmm?"

He shook his head at her response. "I told you why I was up, now it's your turn."

She huffed and playfully glared at him. _'As if they were friends for years.'_ He was very confused. _'How did we go from insulting each other to being… friendly?'_

She seemed to be thinking the same thing, as she cleared her throat once more and answered, "I couldn't sleep, so I was going to go running."

He smiled at her in a friendly manner, "You can always join me if you want. That is, if you're okay with losing?"

She pointed her finger at him again, though this time it was funny instead of threatening, "Oh, you're so on!"

She then showed her enthusiasm by running all the way to the stadium, Daring already far behind.

When he finally reached the stadium, he saw the beautiful girl picking her nails sarcastically, obviously bored out of her mind.

"Hey," he breathed, still tired from running the whole way. He took a closer look and saw that she didn't even seem affected by running for a few minutes. The bookball stadium was quite far from the school entrance. _'How…?'_

"Finally, you sure took your sweet time!" she playfully stated, punching his shoulder lightly. _'Something friends do,'_ he noted.

What was weird was that he felt perfectly fine. Actually, better than fine. He thought that if he would ever be friends with the daughter of Little Red Riding Hood, he would feel disgusted with himself. However, that is not the case, so it seems. He felt wonderful, in fact. He had never felt like he was having so much fun before in his life.

Cerise sure was unusual. _'Her massive mood swings made her exciting,'_ he thought, _'Unpredictable and fun.'_

He laughed at himself as he sat on the bleachers, taking a break from running a few laps. Cerise was still going. _'Of course, she was her!'_ He laughed more.

She stopped running to stand next to him. She was breathing heavily, but still didn't seem affected from the exhaustion.

"So, you'll finally play me?" she questioned excitedly.

Her happiness and joy was rubbing off on him. Sure, he was used to seeing girls act that way around him, but Cerise was doing so for other reasons, not him. It felt… refreshing, not having someone depend on you for happiness. It was an unusual thing to say, but it was true. And it was a new experience to feel happy because of someone else, which hardly ever happens.

He always had to make his own happiness, his own fun, because it is very boring being a prince and following a destiny that was planned out long before he was born.

Now, he had the girl in front of him, and for that, he was once again grateful. He was starting to see her and Hunter's point, at last.

"Yeah, I think I will."

Her smile was filled with delight and relief as she fist-pumped her fist in the air, her joyful expression filling Daring up with glee and peace of mind, who knew one person could make him feel so… free.

She stopped bouncing around and turned to look at him, smile firmly in place, probably not getting off anytime soon.

"Hey, Daring?"

"Yeah?" he turned to look at her, a sheepish smile found its place on his face, embarrassment from zoning out clearly showing.

She smiled wider. "Thanks, for letting me play. I really like bookball and I really like running… as you can probably tell."

He grinned at her, and she thinks that it is the most wonderful thing that she had ever se- _'Hold it right there! I can't be having thoughts like those, just listen to what he's saying.'_

It looked like she zoned out herself for a few seconds, until she snapped out of it and shook her head.

He ignored it for now.

"It's no problem, I should have given you a chance… sorry I was a sexist jerk. Sometimes I get a little overboard on the whole 'traditions' thing."

She laughed at the under-statement, and turned her head slightly to look at the sunrise.

"Wow," she breathed, her face full of awe and wonder.

"What, never seen one before?" he teased.

She turned to look at him, playfully glaring once more, "I have," she began, "It's just been a few years, I live in a forest, remember."

"Oh, right," he chuckled.

She checked her mirrorphone for the time, "Hey, Daring."

"Hmm?" he replied, looking at the spectrum of rich reds and soft pinks covering the sky as if it was a priceless painting.

"It's almost six, students with early classes will be getting up soon."

He turned to look at her, a frown on his face. "Oh, you're right, we should probably go."

Their eyes locked, a battle of cold iron grey against a storm of passion commenced until Cerise commented, "Yeah, we should."

She stood up from the bleachers from where they were watching the sunrise and started walking back inside the building, but before she entered, she turned around and waved goodbye at him.

When she did so, his stomach erupted with butterflies. _'Okay, it's official. I 'like' her.'_ He groaned, not because he didn't want to not like her but because he already had his destiny all planned out. Now this random girl just walked in and blew his whole world away, and she didn't even know!

He shook his head and went to his dorm room to change, and wondered if this little friendship they had this morning would stay or not…

He hoped that it would, anyway.


	5. A New Friendship

_**Chapter 5:**_ __ _ **(1889 words)**_

It was later on in the day which she made up with Daring Charming, around one in the afternoon. Students were just getting out of classes to eat.

She herself was starving, she ate barely anything for breakfast since she was too busy thinking about the events earlier in the day, how UnCharming looked at her then, when she looked so happy, and especially how she felt really strange in her stomach. She just assumed that it would go away, so she ignored it.

Since she was a half-werewolf, she had a massive appetite, and so she ate three burgers until she was full.

Raven looked at her unusually until she remembered her friend's heritage and thankfully didn't comment on it. It's hard to explain why she can eat so much in so little time.

She stood up, putting away the plate, but not before saying goodbye to Raven and Cedar, who she was sitting with.

Cerise left the cafeteria and while she was walking down a hall, she heard someone behind her, the wolf ears on the side of her head easily detecting the sound.

She turned to see Apple White and her… entourage. It consisted of the O'Hair twins, Briar Beauty, Ashlynn Ella and Blondie Locks, daughter of Goldilocks, was joining them today.

Apple was in the centre of the line-up of princesses (plus Blondie), and gave Cerise a sweet smile before it turned into a malicious smirk.

"My, oh, my." She began speaking, her voice oozing like honey, sickly and much too sweet, "Look what we have here… a rebel."

The five other girls gasped silently with questioning looks until Briar asked, "What do you mean, Apple? She's the hero of her story, and following her destiny."

The others nodded at her statement and waited for Apple to respond.

"She joined the bookball team, she broke tradition. That counts as a rebel in my books," she made a disgusted face at being in near proximity of a rebel, which is quite ironic since her roommate is Raven Queen.

Briar went to respond but Ashlynn beat her to it, "Yes, she broke tradition, but that is not the definition of a rebel."

Apple's eyes sharpened as she looked at Cerise, though the hooded girl didn't back down, she had seen many of those in her life time, since most werewolves, the ones she's not related to, believe her to be a human, and they relish in scaring a human, so she has learnt from experience to not back down.

Apple gave her a frown, and snipped, "They're just as bad as one, though."

All of the other girls looked at her. Cerise looked at her warily while the other girls looked shocked at Apple's vicious tone. The usually chirpy and kind princess had never acted like this before and it worried her friends.

"You know, my Daring is very smart. You should know, he never plays you in the team's practices."

She smirks when Cerise's eyes widen and one of them twitch. _'How could she? Daring said that he would let me play, and he is most certainly not hers!'_ She didn't know why she cared so much at Apple's comment of Daring belonging her to her. Probably because Daring didn't really seem like he wanted that, and she was never one for forcing others to do anything.

She felt her eyes growing wet, _'No! I won't let her get to me! I won't let her see me cry!'_ Her attempt at stopping the tears were useless, but she still wasn't going to let the pretty princesses see her cry.

She ran.

She ran and ran and ran until she was in her favourite clearing in the dangerous forest near the school. She didn't know what to do. It's been years since she'd let someone get to her like that, and it just had to involve Daring, didn't it?

She sighed as the tears didn't stop. _'Did he change his mind? Won't he play me? Was he just faking the friendship we had earlier?'_ She didn't know.

What she did know was that there was someone, something nearby. She could hear it with her wolf ears, twigs snapping as the thing approached her. She turned her head to the direction of the school and the sound.

' _It must be a student from Ever After. Oh, I hope it's not Apple.'_ She shivered at the thought of being humiliated like that in public.

When a gap between two trees was suddenly filled with the student who made the noise, she sighed in relief at seeing that it wasn't Apple… but who was it? She had never seen this girl at school.

The girl saw Cerise on the floor leaning against a tree, hardly any sunlight was getting through the thick canopy, making it very difficult to see, though Cerise had improved vision for being a half-werewolf.

She sniffed a bit as the tears slowed down slightly at the stop of negative thoughts and asked, "Who are you?"

"Oh, silly me!" she playfully began, "I'm Darling Charming."

Her eyes widened at the discovery of the identity of the student with her at the moment. She didn't want to hear anything about Daring at this moment and she scrunched up even further to make a smaller ball.

Darling must have noticed because she quickly asked, "What happened?" She huffed, annoyed, "Did my brother do something to upset you?"

"Um, no… I don't think so. It was Apple. Apple White? You probably know her." she whispered shyly.

Darling's eyes widened and her jaw dropped until she realised what had just left the hooded girls lips and she answered, "I do… why would Apple do that?"

Cerise was surprised. The girl, a princess, believed her over Apple White? The future ruler of Ever After, that Apple White?

She voiced her suspicions and Darling just laughed fondly in return, her usually bright, vibrant white hair a dull, grey in the gloom of the forest, but she still worked it. _'Now that's what a Charming should be like, not how Daring UnCharming has been acting.'_ She shook her head at her silly thoughts.

"Now, what happened?" Darling asked warily, not wanting to push her away further.

Cerise huffed, "Your brother hasn't been playing me in the bookball practices and Apple said that he was smart for doing so. It was really weird. I've only been here for two weeks but even I know that she's always really sweet and kind."

Darling shook her head. "Princesses," Cerise heard her mutter, her ears picking up the sound.

"Darling, you're a princess," she replied, laughing slightly. She was already feeling a lot better.

"I know, I know, but I don't want to be, and some others are the same, like Briar, or Ashlynn."

"Really?" Cerise questioned curiously.

"Yeah, Ashlynn doesn't want to be a princess so she can be with Hunter forever, and Briar didn't want to sign the storybook of legends, since that would mean being asleep for one hundred years and then she's woken up by some dude one hundred years younger than her kissing her on the lips and finding out that all of her friends are dead."

"Wow, that's hard."

"Yeah."

"I'm Cerise Hood, by the way, daughter of Little Red Riding Hood," she informed, sticking her hand out.

Darling smiled kindly and nodded shaking her hand back, and when their hands retreated, her expression turned angry, "Has Daring really not been playing you? Oh, and well done on getting in the bookball team, by the way!"

Cerise laughed at her mood swings, they were almost as bad as her own. She then huffed at the actions of Daring UnCharming. "Yeah, though I talked to him this morning and he said that he would, so maybe he hasn't told Apple? And good job with getting in the fencing team, great inspiration."

"Hmm, thanks! And that's true, he probably doesn't want to anger Apple. She's even more obsessed with destinies and traditions than he is!"

Cerise fake-gasped, "How is that even possible?"

Darling definitely laughed at the dry humour of the girl in front of her and stated, "I think that we'll be great friends, don't you think?"

She smiled at the rebel princess, giving her the thumbs up before standing up and walking back to the castle together.

 **(-Line break!-)**

They talked about anything and everything, both girls noticing the light increasing as the canopy of leaves thinned in width, until they reached the entrance of the school building.

Darling frowned, "I have to go see my brother about this, just to make sure."

Cerise smiled at her, happy that the girl cared that much about her problems, and quoted her from earlier, "I think that we'll be great friends, don't you think?"

Darling smirked at her before giving her a hug. Cerise stiffened for a second, unused to human contact, before hugging back, strongly. She made a new friend!

She was delighted at this, and waved goodbye to Darling before going back to her dorm room, resting earlier than usual to get up and run before practice. Hey, maybe she'd even bump into Prince UnCharming as well.

She loved that nickname, almost as much as she loved messing with people, which is exactly what that name did, though it was purposefully tailored to suit Daring. It was unique, and annoyed him a lot, so she was sure to use it tomorrow, whether he played her or not.

 **(-Line break!-)**

On the other side of the castle Darling made her way to her brother's room, but not before bumping into Blondie Locks.

"Oh, sorry Blondie, I wasn't looking where I was going."

"It's okay, don't worry about it. Hey, do you know where Cerise Hood is?"

Daring had an expression of shock on her face, "Yeah, why?"

Blondie looked relieved, "Apple was acting unusually vicious towards her earlier, and me, Briar and Ashlynn were looking for her to make sure that she was alright."

Darling nodded, thankful that she was not lied to, though she didn't doubt her new friend, not even for a second. "That makes sense, she told me the same thing. She's fine now, don't worry. Just try to make sure that Apple doesn't be mean to her please. Do you know why she was acting this way?"

Blondie shock her head, "No, sorry. It was really weird. And thank you for looking out for her: when I say that Apple was vicious, I mean it."

Darling nodded once more and repeated the end of Blondie's words, "Thank you for looking after her too, good night, I'm going to go and see my brother.

Blondie nodded and scurried away to find the other two princesses that were looking out for the hooded girl.

Darling reached her brother's door and knocked twice quickly and once after a second or two. It was the secret hand shake of the Charming siblings. Dexter invented it, so that they would know when it would be one of their siblings at the door or just some random fan. They always checked anyway, but if they didn't want to be disturbed, they would only open the door to a Charming.

She waited for it to open, thinking of what to say, and how her eldest brother would react…

 **A/N: So… I'm sorry I haven't updated this in who knows how long.**

 **I guess I just got pretty strong writer's block and then I just gave up trying to write anything for a bit. But it's a bit better now. I'll be able to churn out another chapter. Two if I'm lucky, but for now, just enjoy this one. :)**

 **Enjoy!**


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